Genetic Error
by Temporal-Parody-Box
Summary: In Year 2121, Bane Industries was created. Scientists never gathered unless it came to one of two things: Genetic perfection or War. The "DWMA" was created by five of them for both. The war against death was slowly being won as humans became upgrade-able. Maka always thought that life this way was just fine... until she met the Spartoi. AU. SOMA. TSUSTAR.
1. Prologue: Timing Error-01

_**Genetic Error**_

* * *

_**WARNINGS:**_

_Alternate Universe; Sci-Fi._

_Hardest attempts to stay in character._

_Inspirations from Eoin Colfer's 'Supernaturalists', NO.6, Torchwood, Woman on the Edge of Time, The Thief Lord, City of Orphans, and maybe Repo! The Genetic Opera.  
_

_Undergoing editing, slow updates._

* * *

_Prologue: Timing Error.01_

* * *

_In Year 2121, Bane Industries was created._

_Scientists never gathered unless it came to one of two things:_

_Genetic perfection or War._

_The Deoxyribonucleic Weaponry Macroevolution Acid Department was created by five of them for both._

_The war against death was slowly being won as Inner Cell Mass Bands were created and soon became a requirement._

_Humans became update-able through the wristbands; genetic codes could be easily personalized._

_Everything seemed fine..._

* * *

There was a steady hum of activity around her as the bullet train continued it's trek further from the center district. She'd been offered a ride back to her place, but she didn't want to burden her upperclassmen with the extra drive. The train was a bit faster anyway... Still, the blonde girl couldn't help but shift a bit uneasily; bottle green eyes glanced down to the light on the ICMB that matched. The churning of her stomach made sitting patiently for her stop difficult, something telling her to stay on guard for something that was bound to happen.

The train slowed to a stop, doors opening to allow another crowd of people on and off; Maka adjusting in her seat so a group of three could hurry past her to an open long-booth. They were a rowdy group; dressed in layers of jackets, hats, tinted goggles, they were loud and messing around right behind here. Though they weren't hard to ignore, the green light on the ICMB flashing to catch her attention again. The blonde tapped on the small screen, frowning as a warning went across. Another Sonic Boom had gone off in the station they had just left... A warning was sent out to be on alert for shut-down. Just perfect... Shut-Downs meant taking power out of the area to try and catch the people setting the bombs off... Sonic bombs meant she'd need to get the temporary equipment out just in case; a part of her hoped that the new Update would be able to protect their ears from the high frequencies...

"Damn it Anya, don't be such a prude!"

"Move your big head!"

The bulky headphones were pulled from her bag to rest around her neck. She spotted a few people who were as nervous as she was doing just the same, the loud group behind her stayed ignorant of the warning. It was tempting to put the hyper-noise blocking padding on to block _them_ out, but she needed to listen for her station; that and she didn't want to start panic on the train. Her stomach kept twisting and fluttering, danger was close... She hoped she was wrong; she couldn't be this intuitive at fourteen, right?

Bright eyes snapped up when she saw people getting off again, eyes scanning the windows for a sign of where they were. An underground station, train coming out of a tunnel, opposing tracks were seen from the opposite window. She grabbed her bag quickly and swung it over her shoulder before stepping off into her station. She started looking around the platform for an familiar faces, hoping maybe someone from home would come to greet her. It hadn't happened in awhile, but the meet-ups were rather spontaneous. With a sigh, she accepted she'd have to take the escalator to the left to go to the inner-district tram to get closer to home. She just hoped there would be enough room to get on one before curfew.

The thought was nearly knocked from her head as she found herself on the ground, bracing the fall with her hand. The culprit who had shoved her out of the way was laughing as he hurried far from the train's double doors. "Watch it...!"

"Come and get it Anya!" He held up a pale blue beanie, Maka's eyes turning to the train as a few shouts came from inside, another boy running out of the train laughing just as much as the first. She stayed kneeling, waiting for the girl to come stumbling out.

"You two are so dead!" The girls cry came from the doors, Maka deciding to stand and hurry out of the way, glancing down at the vibrating, yellow-light flashing erratically. Wide eyes searched around the platform, heart racing as she saw plenty of other citizens starting to rush up the stairs to get out of the station before the shut-down.

"Hey!" The boys were oblivious of their surroundings for only a moment. Maka was tempted to leave them to deal with security. One of them seemed to get it though, the moment it became too late. The screens around them started going haywire, going into numeric codes and lines as if they'd just been hacked. Both of the strangers seemed to start panicking. The bullet's doors in front of them quickly snapped shut - most cars holding the slower passengers; metal slammers came down heavily one by one in front of the stairs to lock everyone on the platform in.

The taller of the two, the one with the girls beanie, was faster; he ran towards the closest staircase and just made it past before the heavy wall came down just as realization and recognition came across the others expression. The remaining ran towards the train, banging on the doors to face the long haired blonde on the other side of the window. "Anya!"

Maka noticed the few people stuck in the station level with them were gathering in the center, ducking into bathrooms, doing under benches; all for safety as the ceiling above them started shaking, a warning that the booms were being triggered above. She pulled the soundproofs from her neck to over her ears; they had all been too slow and she knew it.

The boy was relentless, trying to pry the metal doors open himself even as the train started to shake as much as the upper level; the high pitch sonic went off within seconds of warning. The blonde inside the train ducked, covering her ears with her hands as the boy on the outside copied. The bulletproof glass of the train blew out and scattered, most falling on the over-dressed boy.

Maka's eyes shut tightly as she ducked close to a bench in fear of anything giving out. She didn't know what would come next, and she was afraid to actually see it.

The noise was nothing compared to the air-release; Maka could feel herself being forced back even as she curled up, a part of her hearing very muffled shouts as other people hit the floor under the blow. The extra noise she wasn't sure of, and she was too afraid to look. Large metal scraped across the station's floor, crumpled and damaged, the explosion giving off heat and fire. There was a too-close shout in front of her, green eyes opening.

Maka watched as the doors blew outward, tossed forward against the desperate attempt to get to the girl inside and forcing the boy back as it pinned him down; the rest of the metal death trap became a complete disaster and combusted.

Sure that there wasn't much more that could fly towards her, the blonde's mind quickly scurried to remember what to do in a situation like this; she couldn't find the answer. Green eyes had looked over to the large crumpled mess in her line of flight for a safer spot, the blood pooling from under it made her nervous, but that mean the boy really was under there... Moving swiftly, she fought against what was left of the door and managed to get it off of him.

She leaned down to try and look him over; since he was still breathing she wanted to try and see if she could help him at all. He looked gone, like his mind wasn't even there. The vibrations of the floor seemed to have lessened, the boom at a settle calm. That wouldn't last though, not according to the warning. Large places like this with a lot of people... she was sure another would go off shortly. Still on her knees, she tried to push him towards the defensive spot she had picked towards the stairs earlier, but it wasn't an easy feat; he had to weigh just as much as she did despite his shorter height. She couldn't just leave him there to die though... she just had to wait until the bombs were done and the electrical surge died down, when help would be able to come.

Her heart skipped when she noticed the large gash he'd gained from the accident... already the skin down her legs was dyed red and sticky, if the puddle left behind meant anything, the gash wasn't letting up or clotting right. Stranger or not, she pulled her jacket from around her waist, trying to do her best to keep it pressed against the wound. He flinched, fighting as he reached out for her wrist to stop her.

The second boom echoed through the room, she pressed against the wound as a distraction from the shaking through her bones. The tight hold on her arm made Maka look down to see how panicked her patient looked. His body was wracking with pain beneath the heavy jacket and too-large pants, the eyes behind the the tinted lenses were wide, his mouth opened and closed as he fought against screaming. At first she thought it was the pressure she was applying, but he continued even when she let up.

Green eyes skimmed over the injured, trying to see if there was a wound she might have missed that was getting pressed. Then Maka caught it - blood dripping from the ears. He didn't have anything to keep the frequency bomb out; fear struck her again as she realized just who she was helping.

Non-citizen: Orphan, Run-Away, Criminal, Terrorist; the possibilities were endless!

... Yet they didn't matter.

She gripped his hand with hers until the wave ended, Maka moving fast. The boy was already exhausted, hardly even conscious as she tied the folded jacket around his chest in her best attempts to create a tourniquet. Bravely, the soundproofs were pulled from her own ears to cover his, letting them rest over the beanie hat and goggle straps. Frankly, she didn't want to know his identity; if she recognized it she'd be forced by her own morals to report it after this was over... She'd rather pass a lie-detector test and say she had no idea who this boy was.

They weren't far from the platform's edge that had the ladder down into the tunnel. Though it meant moving away from the safety of, say, the bathrooms or ad-walls, Maka ignored the people moving in hopes of recollecting lost items and focused on doing her best to haul the unconscious body down over the ledge. The Emergency Route really was the best place to wait it out for now; if she was lucky there wouldn't be a third wave... She just needed to get him hidden. City officials weren't kind to any type of non-citizens once they were caught.

The girl pulled him close to her as she lay back against the ladder-wall; his head rested against her shoulder so she could make sure he was still breathing. She found an easy position for both of them to rest in before pressing the jacket harder against him in hopes the gash would clot soon.

Then the pain he'd endured earlier hit her.

Three sonic frequency bombs; three sonic booms. Three. Maka let herself scream as the last high-pitch frequency hit. The pitch was deafening, making her thoughts turn fuzzy even as she attempted to cover her ears. Her hands pressed harshly against her ears as she felt the red liquid drip on and through the cracks; she tried to curl up with the sleeping body still in her lap. It didn't take long to feel the wave numb her muscles and wrack her bones. It took only seconds to black out.

* * *

Maka drowsily opened her eyes, the florescent light from the station above hardly reaching her hiding spot. Her brain was slowly starting to come back to reality, the amount of activity around her making her heart race. Black and white uniformed city officials were flooding the tunnel, mostly looking over the remains of the bullet trains and any traces of bodies there. She couldn't hear much, the buzzing in her ear telling her that the nerves were damaged from the sonic frequencies - she'd have to submit an upgrade request for that.

Quickly her mind sparked, she curled up facing the wall with the boy in her lap as two officials moved closer to her, their white gas masks were on but they were certainly shorter than most of the others.

"Don't worry." One held up his hands in defense before resting one on her shoulder, slowly and gently forcing her to move away.

"We got 'im." The second have her a thumbs-up, leaning down to pick the boy up before tossing the headphones back into her lap. She didn't try and say anything about her jacket.

"Put these back on. Stay here until they come get you." Green eyes looked at him, confused as he pointed to his ears and back to the larger group of officials to make his message clear. "Thank you for watching over him."

She wasn't really sure who the two were, but her brain easily worked out that they were imposters. The one held the boy carefully, muttering something under his breath to the other as they took off deeper into the tunnel and away from the crime scene. She couldn't manage staying awake longer though, passing out again as real Black-and-Whites came to find her.

* * *

**Authors Notes:**

*The sonic bombs are hard to explain if you don't already have an idea in your head. It really is a high pitch-frequency accompanied with a lot of air-force pressure. If you are a Torchwood fan, look into Toshiko's past the day she joined.

*Black and white officials are supposed to resemble Arachne's henchmen.

*Bullet trains are like subways, barts, etc. if you really were confused.

This did pretty well on LJ for awhile before I lost confidence in it... So I'll just see how this goes.

Had to dig up some notes I had on this since I never finished it.

No Beta, be kind.

Do not own art.


	2. Chapter 1: Overload-01

_**Genetic Error**_

* * *

_Chapter One: Overload.01_

* * *

_After her experience with the sonic bombs, Maka had woken up laying down in the back of a Black-and-White's car. When she moved to sit up, she could see her guardians talking to one of the masked men. Noticing she had come to, she was immediately inquired about the event; at least Maka realized she had gotten her hearing back for the most part._

_She did her best to stray from her encounter with a Non-Citizen. No, she hadn't seen anyone suspicious; yes, she had gotten the warning in time; no, she hadn't 'escaped' the bullet train she'd just gotten off right before the bomb; no, she didn't remember why she was in the tunnel or why there was so much blood on her or why her ears were impaired despite having the headphones on._

_They assumed someone else had helped her and ran off; that she had forgotten to put the headphones on and a wounded person had gone to help her. She was just thankful no one had paid her much mind. After all, a lot of people had died in the train explosion, anything could have happened without a witness claiming to have seen what really happened._

_Years passed, and despite the Black-and-White's eager searches to find the terrorists, the bombs continued and started to become more frequent. She found herself lucky to not be caught in another round of frequency waves._

_The Deoxyribonucleic Weaponry Macroevolution Acid Department sent out a message claiming that they would be delving deeper into experiments to see if they could contribute to helping prevent these problems and they started asking for Beta-Testers._

* * *

Maka shifted with a sigh as she glanced at the band around her wrist for the time. Technology at it's most advanced and all the buses were still late - thank goodness she planned for this as always and should still be at school in time. She chuckled to herself, trying to roll her shoulders back as she leaned against the pole holding the Number Listings. Green eyes traveled to the bench a little ways away, the blonde smiling to see a familiar face sitting comfortably in their own little world. Well, not for long... She made her way over quietly, hands quickly covering the closed ones as earbuds for music were pulled out.

"Ah!" The dark haired girl jumped, her hands reaching up for the blondes in a hurry.

"Ow!" Maka pulled back, feeling a sting across her hand. She frowned, finding a nice shallow gash across the back of both, a thin trail of blood in its wake. "Tsugumi..."

"Oh, Maka!" The girl looked panicked, quickly standing to inspect the scratches. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't know it was you!"

She supposed she shouldn't have tried to scare her schoolmate like that... Maka quickly shook her head, insisting it was her own fault. "Really, it's okay... It looks more like a papercut than a scratch anyway." Which was true... How odd. Bottle green eyes glanced at Tsugumi's nails to find them neatly rounded and groomed. How had that happened?

Tsugumi opened her mouth to apologize again anyway, but was cut off as the loud shuttle made its way over and screeched to a halt in front of them. The blonde was again reminded of 'advancements in technology'. She motioned for her friend to go first, leaning into her bag for the soft gloves that she'd been given as autumn started to make itself known. Happy to see the white cloth easily hid the strange scratch, she climbed onto the bus after the dark haired girl.

The bus was crowded; not to be unexpected for the early morning ride. Work, school; she saw another face or two she'd normally find in the halls or lunchroom, giving them a quick wave as she went to find a seat. She almost settled for standing when she was shoved out of the way by a pair who decided last second that this was their stop. She wished she'd gotten a better look so she could shout after them, but in moments they were already blended with the sidewalk traffic. Oh well...

Bright eyes turned to where they'd come from, landing on the space they must have been sharing near the window. Deciding it was worth sitting next to a stranger, the girl offered a small smile to the boy sitting in the aisle seat in hopes he'd move over. Instead he moved his legs awkwardly and she took the seat by the window with a feeling of unease and a wave of deja vu as she looked over him in the window reflection. Dark set sunglasses so she had no idea where he was looking, heavy tan jacket, torn jeans, black and white bandanna around their head... People she didn't recognize always made her feel sick; her stomach twisted and she couldn't sit still.

Maka tried to avoid the reflection in the glass, staring past at the busy city and rushed people. The blonde started to fidget, the boy next to her tapping his foot and humming to some tune she couldn't depict if she wanted to. He was antsy... unsettled probably as much as she was, though she couldn't imagine why.

They passed a few stops, people getting on and off. As they passed into the second district, Maka was tempted to just get off and wait for the next shuttle, even if it meant being late. _'Don't worry about it...'_ She told herself quietly as his body went rigid next to her and the bus started up again at a pick-up. She could hear the low growl in his throat; and though she couldn't see them, Maka easily imagined his eyes sweeping across the seats before turning to the back of the bus.

"Not this time..." The blonde shivered as the boy stood, tone harsh. "Stop the bus!"

Green eyes froze and she quickly sought out her other school mates, noticing them all stare in disbelief. Was she about to go through another heist?

"Sit back down kid!" She could hear the driver shout back, and in a flash Maka found herself on her feet and closely pressed against the strangers chest.

"I said stop the damn bus _now_!" There was pressure in the air, and Maka was sure it wasn't just the intense silence. "You're letting us off the bus, and no one else; you got me?" He was forcing them closer to the double doors. Both of them? Why was she going with him? _'Why hadn't I just stood in the back?'_

Maka moved to do something; her hands were being held tightly in his one, his arm was around her front and she was afraid to know why all of a sudden this situation came from. She moved to kick back at his legs, grinning to hear a muffled grunt. Though she realized he had just made it worse, hearing the gasps as she felt something sharp press against her neck in warning.

"Pull over _now_!" The pressure in the air was familiar, and she couldn't help but notice the way the windows shook. A flicker of movement caught her attention and she noticed someone in the back was now standing. "I said _**NOW**_!"

The bus come to a terrifying stop in the middle of traffic, Maka catching a glance in the windows reflection of what was being used to threaten her; a blade coming from under the boys sleeve to rest close to her jugular. The driver was yelling about already warning the city officials, but Maka wasn't paying attention. It was wicked, slightly curved with a strange zig-zag pattern. It seemed to be apart of something bigger, but it was just to out of his sleeve that it wasn't possible to be hiding much more past the jacket. Then she noticed how bad the window really was shaking...

"Damn it, _move_!" In the blink of an eye she was being pulled on. Her legs moved automatically in response to the fear in her captors voice; she followed his tug as he pulled her off the steps and into the street, making a mad dash to the clutter of people watching the bus in plain human curiosity. "Fuck..."

She almost asked what was wrong; then the situation sunk in. She pulled her wrist back, wincing at his tight grip. "Let me go!" Make a scene in public... Get someones attention. Get help!

"Stop that! You don't want to stop running now!" He lost his hold on her and she moved to run back towards the bus at least. "Wait Maka!"

She froze, eyes wide as she turned to the disheveled boy. "How- agh!" Hands moved to cover her ears, green eyes flickering to the bus that was still parked in the middle of the road, rocking. Her heart started racing in her and her mind panicked, remembering how it was adding up. The shuttle rocked, a few people managing to hurry off before the high pitch hit the air and the shuttle became nothing more than scrap metal.

"Ya with me or not?!" Maka felt another tug on her sleeve, but she only stumbled over herself before falling to the sidewalk. There was no way this was happening, not again... She knew those people! "... It sucks, doesn't it? If you don't want to be next, _get up_ **_Maka_**."

Green eyes looked up, the taller form waiting for her and offering his hand. "... Who are you?"

"That's a long story." He grinned, jagged-ended teeth flashing for a moment before his mouth closed self-consciously. "You wanna hear it, you're gonna have to be with me. I just saved your ass."

The blonde nodded, mind racing with questions as she got to her feet. Who was this guy really? How'd he get her name? Why did he save her? Why did he save her and not everyone on the bus? How did he know a sonic bomb was going to go off anyway? Why were they still running?

She wanted to pin the terrorism on him, but his hand was quickly around her wrist, pulling her back out of public view and into the depths of between-building alley ways; his breath was just as fast as hers but he was determined to get them away.

"Fuck...!" She looked past him, seeing the dead end in front of them.

"Where did you expect it to go?!" She growled, yanking her hand free again. He started to say something, but she only moved back a few steps to the turn-off alley. "This way, idiot!"

"... Crazy chick..." He growled, but started following her into the back streets until he seemed to know where he was going and started leading the way again.

"Do I know you?"

"You mean you don't recognize me?" He snickered, turning back to her. "Na, I guess it's been too long; what a pain!"

She tried to go through her memory. Everyone she knew she'd seen on a practically daily bases, so who was he supposed to be then? Maybe she'd seen him at school? No way, not the way he dressed now, they'd never let him! He'd be sent home to change, and she doubted anyone would've kept that up this far into the school year...

"Did all those people on the bus die?" She tried a different question, staying close on his heels. How long could they keep running? Why were they in such a hurry still? They had to be blocks away from the scene he made...

"Save one..."

"How do you know?"

He skidded to a halt, grabbing onto her jacket so she would stop in short notice. She leaned over, hands on her knees panting to catch her breath. He seemed to be exhausted, but was holding it in. As if he had to act macho around her, ha! Fine, let him suffer an asthma attack or something! However, he stepped in front of her, arms out defensively. Maka stood awkwardly, trying to see past the back of the bandanna head with a frown.

"You've done enough damage today..." He growled. The blonde girl was suddenly reminded of the blade she'd seen in the window reflection; the wicked black and red pattern blade came out of nowhere, held in front of them like a shield. Green eyes narrowed as she tried to inspect for dents or folds of it being hidden, but seeing it so close, she saw that the end melded into the boys sleeve... the weapon was apart of him! "Don't hurt her!"

"Oh no... I wouldn't want to do that..." Maka shivered at the low cold voice, seeking the speaker at the end of the narrow space between walls. "Maybe just play with her hair a bit... you're not really hurt when you're gone."

The boy ran forward, the curved blade lashing out at the Black-and-White, the tall figure easily dodging and moving out of the way as the mask gained a scratch down its face. "W-Wait...! I-I don't want to fight you with her..."

"Then this will be easy!" The boy grinned, the blade lashing out again, making the stranger take a few steps back to the opening from where they'd first come.

Maka didn't get to see much more, a new tug on her shoulder drawing her attention to a shorter blonde girl with a finger to her lips. She gave Maka a thumbs up before starting to pull her down the path she'd been abandoned at and dodging into one of the back doors of the building. With the door quickly shut, the smaller girl started laughing, plopping herself down on one of the boxes and swinging her feet. "Wow, you looked so hopeless out there! If I didn't get you, than what would you have done? You don't just stand around like a log, silly!" She kept laughing, and Maka wasn't sure if she should be relieved or terrified.

"Oh! Oh hey, we gotta go! What're you doing just standing there again? Duh!" The smaller blonde beamed, motioning Maka to follow as she started to the stairs going up - Maka only had a moment to realize they were in a basement of a shop! - and barge her way through to the main room.

She could turn back now, go down a few more blocks, and head to school... Tell a teacher that a few students were dead... report to the Black-and-White again... or she could keep going.

"Maka, you with me?" The girls voice called down the stairs.

Or, she could find out who these people were. Why they knew her name. Why that Black-and-White was attacking them... and why they had been on the bus too... weren't they the one sitting in the back who stood when she'd been taken hostage? A Black-and-White always rode on the bus... one always had to, it was law to prevent trouble... Why hadn't they done their job then?

Curiosity won. The ash blonde looked up the small staircase to the blonde with large blue eyes, beaming and giggling as Maka nodded and hurried to meet her at the top.

* * *

**Authors Notes:**

I took a short vacation... sue me.

This chapter was too long I felt weird keeping it as one, so Overload has two chapters. Next ones going to be awhile.

*Soul's 'blade' isn't the full arm-blade, it's the elbow-up blade (first discovers Weapon Blood. Wes is there when this happens, look in Soul's past.)

*No. No you don't understand. You're not supposed to yet. .01 is Maka's POV and if she doesn't know whats going on, neither do you!

I did go back and try to add more to the first chapter, since I realized it really wasn't explained too well.


End file.
